“Listen,” she said sweetly. “I’ve been dying to work in an office like this for a long time. I wouldn’t want to find out you’re screwing around with the boss to get a leg up. I just want to make sure we’re all playing fair. In case you need a reminder, there’s no dating within the company while you’re an intern. I’d hate to have to go to HR.”
“There’s nothing going on. Besides, none of the owners are voting.”
She moved in closer. “But what were you doing here that late?”
Okay. Here goes. I hated telling her this, but I hated her thinking she had something on me and Duke even more. “I work for the cleaning service next door in the evenings. I was cleaning. Duke must have been here late for a meeting that night.”
She blinked, taking it all in. “You…were cleaning the office?”
“Yes.”
“After everybody goes home?”
“Yup.”
Her hand covered her face, failing miserably as she pretended to hold back her smile.
I moved to leave, when she asked, “If that’s actually what you were doing, can I make a request?”
My eyes narrowed. “What?”
“The carpeted floor is disgusting. I’m assuming you’re not vacuuming every night, but maybe you need to?”
“Oh, do you mean the section of carpet by your desk that’s always covered in fingernail clippings? You’re right. It is SO disgusting. I’ll try to remember to take care of that.” I turned and walked back to my desk, proud I hadn’t caved to her level. Well, maybe I’d caved a tiny bit. Even though it was the lesser of the evils I could have told her, I knew she would now be making my life a living nightmare.
One more month.
I could make it one more month.
18
On Thursday afternoon,near the end of the day, Duke called me into his office. Since the intern meeting on Monday, he had been in and out of meetings, trying to secure a big client. I’d seen so little of him that I was beginning to worry he might have forgotten about our project. With only three and a half weeks left, the clock was ticking, and I wanted to be sure I had plenty of time to create without pressure. The one time I had caught him today, he said he was still working out a few details and would go over it with me before the day was finished.
I stood from my desk, stretching my back as I did so, ignoring Anita’s frank stare. At the cafe and the cleaning service, I was used to movement in my job. Sitting all day seemed like a luxury, but it was taking some getting used to. I minimized the spreadsheet Tenisha had me working on for the day and walked into his office and closed the door.
For the record, he still looked handsome. His hair seemed longer today, rumpled casually over his forehead, giving him a boyish sort of charm that wrung me inside out.
“Hey, Kiss Cam.”
“Hey.” I folded my arms in an attempt at being casual, unable to help the glow of warmth swelling inside me at his mere smile. It was disconcerting to know that the minute he got me alone, all it took was one smile and his knowing eyes on me and my body quite literally melted.
“Are you ready to talk about my project? Or did you want me for something else?”
A curious expression crossed his face. “Are you flirting with me?”
“No.”
He leaned back in his chair, the squeak filling the room. “Oh, good. Cause…it almost sounded like you were.” He gave me a meaningful glance that was completely full of crap. My body relaxed as our back and forth felt normal again. This was Friend Duke today with a side of flirting.
“Nope. I was just wondering about my project. Are you done finalizing the details?” Something about it all seemed fishy, but I couldn’t place my finger on it.
“Yeah.” He pointed toward the chair on the other side of this desk. “Have a seat.”
I sat down and braced myself for something. I was already a bit apprehensive. In all actuality, I knew absolutely nothing about making things out of wood, and I was worried that might come across when building the website.
“Bart and Birdie can meet with you on Saturday morning. Would that work?”
“Their names are Bart and Birdie?”
